In Italy, Buona Festa di San Giuseppe and Happy Father's Day! St. Joseph was my father's principal patron saint (Dad was both a master carpenter and a father/stepfather/adoptive father and later, surrogate father to many young men, as I have written before). We also consider St. Joseph our family patron. I did not have my act together early enough to have a St. Joseph's Altar and hospitality table this year--next year! (I did break down and buy three scrumptious doughnuts for dessert tonight, as I couldn't find zeppole anywhere in Raleigh...)

But I did come across a blog post quoting a New York Times article (whoa! the NYT publishes something positive about a Catholic?!) in which a Mother Superior remembers her father. I think her father and mine were cut from the same cloth, even though they had totally different ethnic backgrounds. The charisms of St. Joseph, most Chaste Spouse of the Blessed Virgin Mary, patron of all workers, were definitely present in these two men.

Read it here.

Oh, this is good:
http://actsoftheapostasy.blogspot.com/2010/03/mr-spock-would-make-great-catholic.html

I've always preferred Mr. Spock to Captain Kirk, but this makes me howl out loud! (Even our Protestant friends will appreciate the appeal of moral authority, I hope.)

Fellow stitchers, I know I have not posted a progress picture in forever...mea culpa! In my defense, the day I determined to take a new progress picture once we returned home from Mass (remember, I stitch a lot on the road to and from Mass), my son was taking pictures at Mass and the dratted camera died. It is now being repaired by Nikon and I hope it comes back shortly!

Tonight we will have the traditional pancakes for Shrove Tuesday, with one exception--mine will be chocolate/raspberry pancakes! I don't really like pancakes (too many memories of Girl Scout camping and totally soggy over-the-fire pancakes, ick) but I found this mix, and my husband made me some a while ago and they are scrumptious.

Did I mention that I have decided to give up chocolate for Lent? This is a very hard one for me. Hence the pancakes tonight.

For my Lenten devotions, I will be reading Pope Benedict's Journey to Easter and starting--at a slow, deliberate pace--Blessed Columba Marmion's Union with God: Letters of Spiritual Direction as suggested at Spiritual Mothers of Priests. With my son I'll be reading the daily lectionary Gospel reading.

I am also going to try to finish the angel stitchery (Lavender and Lace's Angel of the Morning) my husband asked me to do for him last year, in thanksgiving for his upcoming first anniversary of being cancer-free (St. Patrick's Day).

So often, for me, Lent passes in a blur of getting music ready for all the liturgies between Ash Wednesday and Easter Day. I want this year to be different. The past several months have had too many days in the Slough of Despond, so I am coming to this Lent feeling like I need to be more in the Church Militant. Pray for me and I will pray for you that this year, Easter crowns the year with all blessings. Miserere nobis, Domine.

In principio erat Verbum et Verbum erat apud Deum et Deus erat Verbum
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God...

ET VERBUM CARO FACTUM EST, et habitabit in nobis
And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us...

...et vidimus gloriam eius gloriam quasi unigeniti a Patre plenum gratiae et veritatis
And we beheld His glory, glory as of the Only-Begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.

I remember hearing the Prologue of St. John's Gospel as the Christmas Day Mass Gospel as a child, kneeling at the Incarnation verse "And the Word became flesh", and bursting into tears, overwhelmed by the Truth proclaimed therein and the sense that this was the eternal Christmas story, from the point of view of the Eternal, Loving Father who sent His only Son...for the world...for me. I have never "gotten over" the reaction of my heart whenever I hear or read this passage; when I hear it at the end of every Extraordinary Form Mass, I still am moved to tears.

The medieval Christmas carol 'Balulalow'--a lullaby of praise for the Baby Jesus--says it perfectly (here the words are modernised):

Last week, before the sinuses and Eustachian tubes fell victim, I did record two of my favorite Advent chants. The first is the Advent Prose, Rorate coeli:


http://www.christeluxmundi.org/Rorate%20coeli%20(chant)%20PRW.mp3


The second is Alma redemptoris mater, the Vespers Antiphon for the Magnificat sung between the Vigil Mass of the First Sunday of Advent and The Feast of the Presentation (Candlemas, 2 Feburary) inclusive, except for the days upon which the O Antiphons are sung:



http://www.christeluxmundi.org/Alma%20redemptoris%20(chant)%20PRW.mp3

The Magnificat Antiphons, including the O Antiphons, are very dear to me because the Magnificat is very deeply embedded in my heart. The Blessed Virgin Mary's spontaneous song, when greeted by her elderly cousin Elizabeth, has always stirred in me an immediate response. At different times in my life, different parts of the Magnificat would 'jump out' at me:

My soul doth magnify the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God my Saviour....

He, remembering His mercy, hath holpen His servant Israel, as He promised to our forefathers....

He hath showed strength with His arm...

He hath filled the hungry with good things...

When I was in high school, our pastor once asked in a sermon, "What is your personal motto?" My response was immediate--the response of Our Lady to the Angel Gabriel, which is the last thing recorded before the Magnificat:

I had promised that I was going to record each of the O Antiphons with the Magnificat this year, but today finds me battling a sinus and ear infection. Perhaps I will post it later. In the meantime, my dear friend Argent on the Tiber, one of whose gifts is illuminating the Faith through Beauty, has on her blog a meditation on O Sapientia and a YouTube link which leads to a lovely rendition: http://sognodargento.blogspot.com/2009/12/o-sapientia.html

May Our Lord's wisdom illumine your mind and heart this Advent.

A quote I came across today while searching for something else:

Q. What is the Use of Singing and of Organs in the divine Service?
A. To help to raise the Heart to Heaven, and to celebrate with greater Solemnity the divine Praises.
--Richard Challoner, Vicar Apostolic of the London District, 1758-81

I was struck by the parallel to the Catechism's definition of why Our Lord created mankind:
"So that we may Know, Love, and Serve Him in this Life and to Enjoy Him in the next."

The purpose of music at the Mass and in the Office is not to entertain, not to pacify, but 'to raise the heart to heaven', to awaken in us the desire and the capacity to know, to love, to serve. And 'solemnity', in the Church, always means a deep joy infused with worship. C. S. Lewis understood this when he wrote: